


How Does This Happen?

by artbyweb86



Series: Buck's Apartment [1]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: 118 to the rescue, Buck is trapped in his apartment, slight Buck whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-26 16:54:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21801610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artbyweb86/pseuds/artbyweb86
Summary: Seriously, how does this actually happen?
Series: Buck's Apartment [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2083653
Comments: 8
Kudos: 263





	How Does This Happen?

Buck woke up to the sun streaming in his face. That should warm him up, right? But why did he feel cold? Maybe the heat went out. Just great. He pulled his covers a little closer. It was Saturday and he had the day off. Sleeping in was a rarity these days. But he had to pee.

He stretched and groaned as he really didn’t want to get out of bed. 

He swung his legs over the bed and onto the floor.

First thing he felt was cold. 

He yelped and pulled them back onto the bed. 

HIs feet were wet. 

How?

He glanced at the floor and water was about inch high on the floor. 

Again, how?

He was on the top part of his apartment, in the loft. 

He began looking around and his heart stopped. 

There wasn’t any water dripping from the ceiling near his bed. Whatever the source, it had filled the whole apartment! And just stopped at the bottom of his bed. 

Trying not to panic, he took stock of his surroundings. 

He was flabbergasted. How does water fill the apartment? Wouldn’t it leak out the windows, which he had plenty of, or the door?

He knew the risk of swimming to a window and trying to open or break it. He would get sucked right out. If he cut himself too deeply, he might bleed out from any injuries before help arrived.

And he couldn’t even use the fire escape as it was on the bottom level by the kitchen.

He looked around for his phone. It was on the dresser thankfully. And an even bigger blessing that it wasn’t plugged in.

He unlocked it and sighed with a little relief. He had half his battery left.

And a text. From Eddie.

Eddie!

Oh god!

He was supposed to bring Christopher over soon as he had to go to work. 

He quickly hit his number. Silently praying they weren’t here yet.

“Buck?”

“Eddie, where are you?”

“I am at your front door right now. Good timing!”

“NO! Get out of the building right now. I’ll explain as soon as you are out!”

“Buck? What? What’s going on.”

“Just go and let me know once you are outside.”

“You’re scaring me now, but give me a minute.”

Eddie guided Christopher back to the car. Ignoring his confused protests.

Buck waited and tried not to let the overwhelming anxiety set in. 

“Ok, what’s going on Buck?!”

“Ummm…kinda strange. But I am stuck in my bed, because my whole apartment is flooded. Call rescue and get Christopher somewhere safe. I don’t want him to get scared. It might set him back because of the tsunami.”

Eddie was confused. He understood the flooding might cause Christopher to panic. But if it was just a pipe to burst. It shouldn’t be cause for so much concern.

“Flooded? How? Like a pipe burst and now everything is ruined? And why call rescue? Are you hurt and bleeding?”

“No, just cold. Ummm…for whatever reason, my apartment must be sealed so well, that nothing is leaking out, annnd, the water has reached up to my bed. I can’t get to my fire escape, since you know, it's downstairs.”

Eddie gasped.

“What?! Seriously?”

Buck actually laughed.

“I know. Like it would only happen to me. How does stuff like this keep happening to me?”

“Ok, stay calm. I’m gonna take Chris to my aunts. I’ll be back though. Can you call 911? You know our station isn’t that close to your apartment.”

Buck sighed.

“Fine. This is more embarrassing than scary at this point. I’d rather not subject myself to another house making fun of me. But fine.”

He hung up and reluctantly called 911.

“911, What’s your emergency?”

Of course his sister had to get his call.

“Hey, sis. I need rescue at my apartment. Im stuck, because it’s flooded. Im stuck in the loft. Get this, water is up to my bed!”

He heard her take in a sharp breath. 

“Buck? Are you ok? Hurt? Bleeding?”

“No, nothing like that. Just stuck in bed. A bit wet and cold, but no worse for wear.”

“Ok. I have the 213 notified since they are only a few blocks from you. I can call Bobby and the team if you want me to? I can see they aren’t on any calls yet. They can help.”

“If they aren’t busy, fine. I don’t even know how this would even play out to be honest.”

“Just hang in there, Buck. Help is only a few minutes away.”

“Thanks sis. My phone is about to die. So I’m gonna hang up now, just in case they need to reach me.”

“Fine, but don’t do anything stupid.”

“Me? Never? Im kidding. I'm being smart about this one.”

Both hung up and Maddie dialed Bobby’s cell directly.

“Hello?”

“Capt. Nash. It’s Maddie, Buck’s sister.”

“Maddie, what happened? Is Buck hurt? That boy is going to be the death of me!”

“Not hurt. Just stuck. His apartment flooded and the water isn’t going anywhere. He is stuck at the top in his loft. He can’t get out. The emergency stairs are downstairs at the kitchen. I’ve already dispatched the 213, but they may need additional support.”

“Wow, ok. We are on our way.”

Bobby yelled for his team to move out. This felt eerily similar to when they had to go out on a call to rescue Chimney. His was a much worse case scenario.

Chimney spoke up this time.

“Where are we headed, I didn’t hear anything on the radio?”

“Maddie called. Buck is stuck in his apartment. Flooded. He’s trapped in his loft. No injuries so far.”

The whole team gasped as they got ready.

They were out on the road in less than a minute.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buck sat on his bed, staring at his phone. Willing it to stay alive. 20 percent left.

He heard sirens in the distance and stood up, splashing water as he did so. 

He looked down and gasped. In the time he had talked to Eddie and then Maddie, it rose enough to be even with the top of his bed now.

He looked at his side table and then his dresser. 

He got into the water and was able to move his side table with little effort to his dresser. It was only a few feet higher, but the longer he wasn’t in the water the better.

He carefully moved into a seated position, praying the dresser stays intact.

There was movement at the window and he saw the ladder from a firetruck being positioned by the window.

Shivering now, he saw someone climbing the ladder and peering in, taking in the scene. They pressed their face into the glass and he saw them talk into the mike to someone below.

They kept scanning and locked eyes with Buck.

Buck gave the thumbs up. And mouthed to say water is rising. 

Their eyebrows went up.

He went back down the ladder.

A minute later, Bobby came to the window with an axe. 

Buck was so relieved to see a familiar face.

Bobby looked around as well and found that the top of the window was the best option to break. He could at least communicate to Buck.

It took only a couple swings and the glass broke.

“Hey Buck. How are you doing, kid?”

“I’m ok. Cold and wet. Shivering now. The water rose a bit, had to move up a little.”

“I see that. If you can wait a little bit more, we are setting up a pumping system and go through this window to suck it out. Anything else will cause too much damage. We have to be careful with whatever we do. I’m gonna toss you this walkie talkie. You can tell us if anything is happening that we can’t see.”

Bobby tossed it as best he could in Buck’s direction. It landed in the water only a few feet away. Buck took off his shirt to get it closer.

He flashed a big smile in Bobby’s direction.

“I’m going down again to bring up the suction. Give us a minute. It’s almost set up.”

Bobby went down again.  
With his shirt off now, he was even colder. Teeth chattering. 

He didn’t remember being this cold ever. Even running around in the water after tsunami searching for Christopher. He had been so focused and was moving around the whole time. Exhausted sure, but never cold.

After what felt like an eternity, Bobby made his way back up with the suction.

He threaded it through the window and turned it on.

“Be patient Buck, this might take a bit. We gotta do this carefully. You doing OK?”

“I think so. I’m cold. But I don’t think hypothermia has set in yet. I can still feel everything.”

“Ok, that’s good. If you can move your arms around in a circle, to get some circulation in, that will help.”

Buck did that, feeling a little ridiculous, but it did seem to help a bit.

After about 20 minutes, the water receded enough to where it was to the top of the steps again. 

Buck carefully made his way off the dresser and onto the floor.

He checked the top drawer of his dresser to see if any clothes were dry. Sadly not. 

With a sigh he continued to watch the water slowly recede.

Deciding he needed lighten his mood and also pass the time, he took a picture of himself, thumbs up with Bobby working in the background. 

He sent it to his sister and then to Eddie.

M - OMG! You weren’t kidding. You OK?  
B - Yeah. Fine. Never Better. 

E - Ha! Only you would do that. Ur poor apt!  
B - I know, right? Clearly I can’t have nice things.

And then his phone died.

With a groan he placed it on the dresser and then sat on his side table.

Another 30 minutes had passed, and the water had only gone down to the middle of the steps.

“Sorry Buck. I know this is taking a long time. I can see you are getting antsy. I’m thinking another 30 mins.”

He had been pacing the floor, trying to warm up, but he didn’t feel like it was working.

“Can someone blast some music through the walkie? I need something to distract myself.”

A few minutes of silence and then something started.

He recognized it right away.

Cry Me A River, by Justin Timberlake.

He couldn’t help but laugh out loud. His team was the best. He just shook his head and smiled. Bobby had a little smirk on his face too.

Singin’ in the Rain followed that.

Waterfalls, by TLC.

The next 30 mins seemed to go a little faster with all the water related songs, along with the buzz of the water being sucked from his apartment.

Finally the water was just about gone. He went downstairs to try the door. He couldn’t unlock it. Must have warped too much.

He tried the emergency escape. Also no luck.

“Guys. You’re gonna have to break down my door. I can’t get either door open.”

“Alright, we will be there in a few minutes.”

Well, guess this was the perfect opportunity to go pee. He forgot all about it.

He went into the bathroom, and all his stuff was on the floor.

He shoved it aside and went quickly with a sigh of relief.

He was able to flush, but no water came back up. They shut off the water to the building. Only makes sense. Duh. Power too.

He came out of the bathroom to hear voices at his front door.

He stepped into the kitchen and surveyed the damage. 

Everything was ruined.

And he was still cold.

Sounded like the power saw was doing it job. A few bangs of the mallet and the door fell to the floor.

Nope, definitely not getting his security deposit back now.

Bobby peeked around the corner and whistled in awe.

Eddie entered, followed by Hen and Chimney.

Eddie had a towel, emergency blanket and pair of sweat pants and sweat shirt in his hands. 

Hen and Chimney set to work, checking his vitals. Everything looked good, aside mild dehydration and mild hypothermia. Blood sugar also a little low. He hadn’t eaten anything since he woke up.

Chimney gave him a power bar and gatorade.

After eating and drinking, he quickly excused himself and went into the bathroom to dry off and change into his new clothes.

It felt so good to be dry again.

Eddie greeted him at the door with the blanket and placed it over his shoulders.

“Thanks man. I feel a lot better now. How’s Christopher. Hope I didn’t scare him.”

“Naw, he’s fine. He was worried about you. He told me, to tell you, to just keep swimming.”

“That kids knows just what to say to pull at the heart strings.”

They exchanged smiles.

Buck looked around the room, ran a hand through his hair and blew out a frustrated breath.

“This is overwhelming. Where do I even start?”

Bobby put a hand on his shoulder.

“Come to the station. Unfortunately, we need to get this place checked out, just in case there is damage. Once they deem it safe, you can come back and collect what is salvageable.”

“Oh man. I gotta find a place to stay too. This could take time for everything to get fixed.”

Eddie spoke up first, looking guilty. 

“I would totally let you stay at my place, but my parents decided to come last minute. They are planning to be here at least two weeks.”

“Maddie and I are in the middle of moving into an apartment together. We have everything packed up. Sorry man.”

“You can stay with me and Athena. The kids would be happy to see you. They are planning a trip with Micheal, so they will be here maybe half the time.”

“Thank you Bobby. Thanks guys. Uh…can you help me find my car keys? I usually have them in a bowl next to the front door. Wallet too. Crap.”

After a few minutes of searching, they both somehow ended up in the tub. Still in the bowl.

He did a quick sweep, knowing he wasn’t going to be able to take anything with him. He remembered he left his phone upstairs and retrieved it. He would have to borrow a charger.

The team was already outside, putting away hoses and equipment.

The other station had left on a call. He would have to thank them later for helping out.  
He waved to the team as he got into his car. He really hoped he had spare shoes in his locker.

He did! Several t-shirts and a pair of jeans too. Small victories.

He took a shower, because god only know what kind of water that was.

He found a charger and put out a call to his landlord. She called a few minutes later. She didn’t believe him, so he sent a video he had taken when he first discovered the situation he was in.

She was silent and then said she would do everything in her power to make it right. It might take some time, but it will get done.

He was exhausted and fell asleep on the couch in the rec room.

Bobby woke him several hours at end of shift.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been determined that maintenance had come in a week prior to the great flood, to repair the dishwasher.  
They put in a part incorrectly and when Buck had run it that night, it got stuck on rinse cycle, which somehow burst a pipe in the sink as well.

They had cleared the building to be of sound structure. 

And the landlord and building manager made good on their word. After he had help removing all the items from his place, most not able to be saved, they hired a crew to get the place cleaned, replaced all the appliances, and gave him a sizable check to replace any lost items. Even though he didn’t have flood insurance, his insurance also helped out.

He didn’t know how he got so lucky.

He had to stay with Bobby and Athena for about three weeks. 

He helped around the house as much as he could. 

Bobby taught him how to cook really good meals, not just breakfast.

And as much as he loved being around them, he missed his independence.

A few days later he was able to move back in. He invited everyone over to help bring in furniture and clothes and other items. He paid them in pizza and beer. He gave everyone hugs thanking them and when everyone left he put on his pajamas and got into bed.

He fell asleep with the biggest smile on his face.


End file.
